This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Dutch grandmaster Jorden van Foreest.

On the eve of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Jorden talks to Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam about his preparation for ‘the Wimbledon of chess’ and his adventures in earlier editions of this world-class event. Most notably, the 2021 edition that Jorden sensationally won ahead of a daunting field that included Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri.

As they look ahead to the 87th(!) edition of ‘Wijk aan Zee’, Jorden also gives his take on two news stories that got worldwide attention during the World Rapid & Blitz Championship in New York that he recently played in: ‘Jeansgate’, the scandal that erupted when Magnus Carlsen was fined for wearing jeans, and the controversial end of the Blitz championship, when Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi decided to share the title and the world chess federation FIDE went along in this breaking of the rules.

Jorden was born into a family with a rich chess tradition. At the end of the 19th century, his great-great-grandfather Arnold van Foreest was Dutch champion, and so was the brother of his great-great grandfather, Dirk van Foreest.

Interestingly, Jorden’s younger brother Lucas has been Dutch champion as well. And yes, Jorden himself has also been Dutch champion as he won the title when he was only 17 years old, one year after he had become a grandmaster.

Jorden, who is 25 now, has been U-10 Open Dutch Youth Champion in 2010, U-14 European Youth Champion in 2013, and only a month ago he won the European Blitz Championship in Skopje.

As said, Jorden’s biggest triumph so far was his win in the 2021 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, where he defeated Anish Giri in a hectic blitz tiebreak.

Jorden is not only a former winner of this epic tournament, it’s also one of his favourite tournaments. He truly knows the village of Wijk aan Zee inside out, as he has been playing there from a very early age.

If you are looking forward to the Tata Steel Chess Tournament as much as we are, you should not miss this highly entertaining conversation with Jorden van Foreest. If you are slowly but surely getting into the mood for two weeks of great chess, you will definitely enjoy this episode of the New In Chess podcast!

0:00 – Intro

2:50 – What is Jorden’s state of mind with Tata Steel right around the corner?

7:37 – When Jorden won the tournament in 2021, how did he prepare?

10:21 – Cold showers

13:15 – Jorden being one of the older players in his group at 25

14:05 – How Jorden’s life and career changed after his 2021 win

15:18 – Working for Magnus in the runup to his World Championship match with Nepo

21:46 – How does Jorden prepare for his thirteen opponents in Wijk aan Zee?

24:27 – Does Jorden follow the same “modern” approach to opening preparation?

26:44 – Does Jorden get affected by his opponents’ presence?

29:13 – AD BREAK

29:45 – Does Jorden prepare differently in such an exceptionally strong field?

33:10 – Why did Jorden participate in the rapid and blitz World Championship in New York?

36:00 – Jorden’s history of good performances in Wijk aan Zee

38:29 – Jorden tells a funny Daniil Dubov story

39:48 – “Jeansgate” and how other top players responded to it

47:18 – How does Jorden feel about the prize-sharing situation between Magnus and Nepo?

49:55 – How does Jorden plan to work with his brother Lucas in Wijk aan Zee?

52:48 – AD BREAK

53:50 – The special atmosphere in Wijk aan Zee during Tata Steel

57:50 – How is Jorden preparing for the upcoming qualification cycle for the Candidates’ Tournament?

1:00:23 – Jorden’s view on freestyle chess

1:03:45 – Are there any opponents in Wijk aan Zee that Jorden is especially excited to play against?

1:08:13 – Outro

This week’s guest on the New In Chess Podcast is Jacob Aagaard.

Jacob returns to the podcast after his last interview last year, in which he was interviewed about legendary Russian trainer Mark Dvoretsky, in his words ‘the biggest authority in my adult life’.

This time host Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam invited him to talk about what 2025 will bring us (yes, Wijk aan Zee coming soon!) and to look back on two major events at the end of 2024: the World Championship match won by Gukesh in Singapore, and the Rapid & Blitz World Championship in New York (in other words, Magnus Carlsen’s jeans and the uproar after Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi decided to share the world blitz title).

When Jacob Aagaard appeared on the podcast for the first time, he was introduced as ‘a grandmaster, a prolific and successful writer, a publisher of chess books at Quality Chess, and a top coach who has worked with many big names that we know and no doubt various that have remained a secret.’

Not long after that talk, it became publicly known that Jacob Aagaard had acquired the publishing houses New In Chess and Everyman Chess. Together with Quality Chess, they are now the New In Chess Group.

And so, before they go on to discuss the issues above, Dirk Jan and Jacob talk about this remarkable merger; how it came about and what the plans are.

0:00 – Intro

2:00 – Jacob’s acquisition of New In Chess and Everyman Chess

20:56 – Are we in a “golden age” of chess publishing?

23:25 – Jacob’s training camp in Singapore during the beginning of the Ding-Gukesh match

26:00 – Does Jacob agree with the overall criticism that the match was not played at a high enough level?

30:57 – Jacob’s Twitter/X opinions are his views, not his publishers’!

32:12 – Dirk Jan’s countless fights with Kasparov over content published under the New In Chess banner

32:41 – AD BREAK

33:20 – Jacob’s “no losers” approach to his acquisition of New In Chess and Everyman

35:25 – Why this match was not “unworthy” of the World Championship, according to Jacob

37:55 – Was the criticism expressed by Magnus on his Take Take Take platform too harsh?

41:10 – Magnus’s greatness is a “package deal”

42:53 – Gukesh’s team, Gajewski’s influence

44:50 – How important is mental coaching during a chess match?

55:43 – The jeans situation

1:01:20 – The underlying conflict between classical and freestyle chess

1:04:53 – The title sharing situation between Magnus and Nepo

1:06:39 – AD BREAK

1:08:28 – Is a shared world title acceptable?

1:14:07 – Jacob’s predictions for Tata Steel

1:20:59 – Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features the second part of a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits and stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week’s episode is Latvian grandmaster Mikhail Tal.

With his fierce attacking style, “The Magician from Riga” dethroned reigning World Champion Botvinnik to claim the World Chess Championship in 1960. Widely acclaimed as a genius, Mischa’s tactical play would produce numerous brilliancies, as well as a 95-game unbeaten streak, a record that would stand for over forty years.

Narrated by professional voice actor Nick Murphy, this week’s episode about Mikhail Tal is different from the two-part “My Misha” series from May of this year. Instead of an active participant, Genna is more of a background figure this time. However, this does not make his retelling of Tal’s stories any less vivid.

A physical copy of "The Essential Sosonko" is available for purchase on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-essential-sosonko-hardcover 

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Peter Doggers.

Peter is a chess journalist from The Netherlands and the director of News & Events for Chess.com. In his book, The Chess Revolution, Understanding the Power of an Ancient Game in the Digital Age, Peter writes about the historical and sociological importance of chess through the ages and, in the second part, about the incredible boom the game has seen in the past years thanks to the pandemic and the success of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit. In the process he writes about the success story of Chess.com, including its early beginnings and how it managed to attract millions of new fans to the game.

Peter has followed the chess revolution, of which has himself been a part, firsthand, and he believes that the future looks bright. If you are interested in recent developments in chess or want to find out if The Chess Revolution is a book that will appeal to you, you should not miss this episode of the New In Chess Podcast!

"The Chess Revolution" can be purchased in full on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-chess-revolution 

0:00 – Intro

2:02 – The manifestation of the “chess revolution” in the Ding-Gukesh World Championship match

4:03 – Extensive media coverage of the World Championship, Peter Leko’s tremendous commentary

7:50 – The current “Indian era”

9:11 – Chess.com’s history and eventual dominance of the worldwide chess scene

16:30 – Peter’s personal history as a chess journalist and “chess vlogger”

20:14 – AD BREAK

20:54 – Peter’s successful short videos

24:20 – What inspired Peter’s book, “The Chess Revolution: Understanding the Power of an Ancient Game in the Digital Age”

29:21 – Chess’s assimilation into short video culture and pop culture in general

32:43 – Chessboxing and the “Ding Chilling” meme

36:53 – The Queen’s Gambit Netflix series

42:20 – AD BREAK

43:26 – Mainstream media attention for chess during the pandemic, the new wave of chess content creators on social media

49:18 – Peter’s hate-love relationship with chess

52:29 – The very earliest beginnings of chess.com and its fruitful cooperation with content creators and streamers

1:04:58 – What does Peter think the future of chess looks like?

1:10:48 – Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features the second part of a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits and stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week’s episode is Latvian grandmaster Mikhail Tal.

With his fierce attacking style, “The Magician from Riga” dethroned reigning World Champion Botvinnik to claim the World Chess Championship in 1960. Widely acclaimed as a genius, Mischa’s tactical play would produce numerous brilliancies, as well as a 95-game unbeaten streak, a record that would stand for over forty years.

Narrated by professional voice actor Nick Murphy, this week’s episode about Mikhail Tal is different from the two-part “My Misha” series from May of this year. Instead of an active participant, Genna is more of a background figure this time. However, this does not make his retelling of Tal’s stories any less vivid.

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits and stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week’s episode is Latvian grandmaster Mikhail Tal.

With his fierce attacking style, “The Magician from Riga” dethroned reigning World Champion Botvinnik to claim the World Chess Championship in 1960. Widely acclaimed as a genius, Mischa’s tactical play would produce numerous brilliancies, as well as a 95-game unbeaten streak, a record that would stand for over forty years.

Narrated by professional voice actor Nick Murphy, this week’s episode about Mikhail Tal is different from the two-part “My Misha” series from May of this year. Instead of an active participant, Genna is more of a background figure this time. However, this does not make his retelling of Tal’s stories any less vivid.

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Russian grandmaster Daniil Dubov.

Daniil, currently rated 2693, earned the grandmaster title in 2011, a few weeks before he turned 15. His biggest success to date was his win in the Rapid World Championship of 2018, ahead of Carlsen, Mamedyarov and Nakamura. Daniil is not only a perfect guest because of his perceptive views and thoughts on chess, but also because of the fact that on two occasions he was one of Magnus Carlsen’s seconds in a world championship match: in 2018, when Carlsen defeated Caruana in London, and in 2021, when Carlsen defeated Nepomniachtchi in Dubai.

With five classical games to go, the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Gukesh D is tied at 4.5-4.5, and Daniil has followed the event closely. Remarkably, Daniil is not surprised at all that Ding Liren is playing much better than the pundits feared and he explains why. Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam immediately after the draw in Game 9, Daniil gives his take on what we’ve seen so far and what we can expect from the remaining games between Ding and Gukesh. He also shares memories and behind-the-scenes stories of the matches when he worked for Magnus Carlsen, and gives a sharp analysis of how the current world championship cycle is an economically bad idea for most chess professionals. In short, an episode you should not miss!

0:00 – Intro

1:30 – Welcome Daniil!

1:59 – Is Daniil surprised by the turn of events in the World Championship match between Ding and Gukesh?

5:36 – Daniil’s recollection of Ding’s world title victory against Nepomniachtchi last year

8:00 – Ding’s mental health issues

11:40 – The difference between a match and a tournament

14:27 – What is Daniil’s take on Magnus’s statement that the world title should not be decided in a classical match format?

17:20 – Will a 2800-player be able to maintain his rating in open tournaments?

19:50 – Ding’s current level and overall playing style compared to Gukesh and Magnus

25:02 – AD BREAK

26:00 – The Chinese and Indian ways of playing chess

29:50 – The Indian way of “learning through playing” as opposed to learning from chess books

31:13 – Why do Ding and Gukesh have guys like Rapport and Gajewski on their respective teams?

33:04 – Daniil’s experience coming up as a player in an era where engines where not as strong as they are now

37:24 – Daniil’s experience working with Magnus

40:55 – Does Magnus display the same “clarity” in his play that Fischer demonstrated?

42:52 – Why a modern coach should do more than just present lines

47:00 – How did Daniil befriend Magnus, and Magnus’s sense of humour

50:50 – AD BREAK

51:29 – Friendships among chess teams

55:59 – The Balenciaga sweater

57:36 – What is Daniil’s prediction for the rest of the World Championship?

1:02:22 – Why Daniil finds it “weird” to see top players like Magnus and Hikaru doing daily recaps of the World Championship match

1:06:34 – Liverpool vs Manchester City and Daniil’s love of other sports

1:08:28 – Weird press conference questions

1:13:53 – Should the World Championship match continue to exist in its current format?

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. Subject of this week’s episode is Dutch grandmaster Max Euwe (1901-1981). This is the third part of Sosonko’s series on Euwe; Part 1 was covered in our October 19 episode, Part 2 on November 8.

Machgielis “Max” Euwe was a chess grandmaster, mathematician, author and administrator, who became the fifth World Chess Champion in 1935, when he defeated Alexander Alekhine. After losing the title two years later, he would continue to play with the world’s best for many more years before retiring in 1953. After retiring as a player, he would later serve as FIDE president starting in 1970. In this capacity, he presided over the famous Fischer-Spassky of 1972 and had to navigate many other chess “situations” of the time, such as the defection of Viktor Korchnoi from the USSR and attempts by Soviet officials to remove him from power.

Genna, a fellow native of The Netherlands, met Max Euwe around the time of the 1972 World Championship match, and the two remained in touch until Euwe’s death in 1981. When Viktor Korchnoi enlisted Euwe’s help in applying for political asylum in The Netherlands in 1976, Genna facilitated communications between the two chess greats. Over four decades later, Genna’s story paints a picture of Max Euwe as both a friend and a historical chess figure.

Max Euwe, for all of his chess accomplishments on- and off the board, was a man with many hobbies. A “workaholic” before that term existed, he made sure to meticulously schedule his day so as to leave time, but not too much time, for activities such as music and table tennis. As his wife Caroline recalled: “He hated disorder more than anything in the world.” In this third and final part of the Euwe narration, we learn more about the man behind the legendary administrator and player that is Max Euwe.

Enjoy this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast!

"The Essential Sosonko" is available for purchase on the New In Chess website: https://www.newinchess.com/the-essential-sosonko-hardcover 

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Indian grandmaster Swayams Mishra.

At the young age of 32, Swayams is already a decorated chess coach, having worked with the Indian national team for several years and coaching their women’s team to gold at this year’s Olympiad. His private coaching practice has also been successful: this year, his mentee Shreyas Royal became the youngest grandmaster in British history.

Interviewed by Jacob Aagaard, Swayams talks about his transition from player to coach, shares his experience with the Indian women's team, and gives three pieces of advice for ambitious players of all levels!

0:00 – Intro

1:54 – Welcome Swayams!

3:55 – Where Swayams and Jacob first met

5:03 – Does Sam Shankland troll Swayams’s online sessions?

5:48 – Jacob tells a (non-child-friendly) Stany story

7:31 – What was Swayams’s role in the Indian’s women’s team at this year’s Olympiad?

9:02 – Swayams explains the difference between coaching men versus women

10:18 – AD BREAK

11:00 – How do Swayams’s days look when his pupils are playing big tournaments?

13:03 – To what does Swayams attribute the current Indian chess boom?

16:17 – Swayams stresses how universally popular chess is and predicts its possible inclusion in future Olympic games

19:30 – The role of petroleum companies in sponsoring Indian chess

21:53 – Swayams’s success coaching Shreyas Royal, who became the youngest British grandmaster in history; multiple-time Indian Women’s Champion Padmini Rout; and Ethan Vaz, a young talent who Swayams regards as the future of Indian chess

24:39 – AD BREAK

25:37 – Swayams gives three pieces of advice for an ambitious chess player trying to improve

28:56 – Outro

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Danish grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen.

Peter is a five-time Danish chess champion, but is primarily known for his highly successful coaching career. From 2007 till 2023, he was continuously coaching the reigning World Champion, working first for Vishy Anand and later for Magnus Carlsen. In this capacity, he was a winning coach in a world championship match a record eight times.

As always, this year’s world title match, which takes place in Singapore between November 25th and December 13th, is eagerly awaited. At the same time, the reigning champion’s lacklustre recent results keep confusing the experts. Ding Liren has dropped to 22nd place in the world rankings and only seems a shadow of the great Ding that not that long ago was the second player in the world behind Magnus Carlsen. In stark contrast, Gukesh has been going from strength to strength. After winning the Candidates tournament in Toronto earlier this year, he led India to gold at the Olympiad in Budapest with a stellar performance on first board.

Interviewed by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Peter Heine Nielsen assesses the situation at the start of the match, analyzing Gukesh’s strengths and possible weaknesses and looking for glimpses of hope for Ding Liren.

0:00 – Intro

2:05 – What is Peter expecting from this year’s world championship match?

3:33 – Ding’s physical and mental state

8:40 – Ding’s deterioration over the past year, winning 3 out of 49 classical games

13:47 – Comparing Gukesh’s rise to the rises of Kasparov and Carlsen

16:50 – Ding’s strong competitive mindset, despite his mental health issues

21:02 – AD BREAK

21:35 – How should Ding’s team aid him in his preparation for Singapore?

25:59 – Ding’s friendship with Richard Rapport

31:53 – What will be the role of computer preparation in this match?

37:00 – Could Gukesh’s confidence be his downfall?

40:30 – Could Ding be exaggerating his symptoms to make Gukesh underestimate him?

43:00 – AD BREAK

44:00 – Kasparov’s assertion that this is “not a world championship match at all”

50:22 – Peter’s love of freestyle chess, also known as Chess960 and Fischerandom

56:48 – Developments in chess in China and India

1:06:20 – So, what is Peter’s prediction for the match?

1:09:17 - Outro